Great input from you all. Is there a budget, of course. I'm just trying to figure out the cheapest plan of attack and then will estimate cost to see what it comes to. I'll find out if I can afford it. The pond will be less than 1 acre so I'm hoping to keep it under $5K. I can get the 2 yard excavator for $350 per day. I figure it's about 6000 cubic yards to move. I'll have to make some assumptions and sit down and figure out how long it will take to move that much dirt. Yes Ryan I've seen those "pans". Since my area is only 1 acre and I have no room around the perimeter to pull a pan (the perimeter is either swamp or trees) I really don't think I have the room to use one. I also think the cost would be higher since I'd have to also rent a larger dozer to pull one and rent the pan. I'll run some numbers on the excavator. I've pushed a lot of dirt with dozers and I think you guys are correct that the excavator will be quicker unless I get a really big one, that's why I'm asking. Just looking at a one acre area where I'm just scraping off 5 feet of peat I would think a D9/D10 would move it pretty quick. Funny story, I've used the excavator to move dirt over distances before. The quickest way is to take up a full scoop, get the machine spinning full speed around to 180 and dump while spinning, then you can keep right on spinning to a full 360 and not stop until ready to pick up another scoop. I think the one I rented last time would do 360 in about 6 seconds. I got so dizzy doing that for only a few minutes that I couldn't walk straight for 2 hours. I think you need to be astronaut material to operate those things at high speed.
Last edited by bz; 02/25/10 12:56 AM.
